User equipment (UE) or a user terminal may operate in a wireless communication network that provides high-speed data communications using various network configurations and/or Radio Access Technologies (RATs). For example, the UE may operate in accordance with Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technologies. Today, such a UE may further operate in accordance with Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS) or Enhanced GPRS Phase 2 (EGPRS2). Other wireless networks that UEs may operate include but are not limited to CDMA, UMTS, E-UTRAN, WiMax, and WLAN (e.g. IEEE 802.11). UEs may also operate in fixed network environments such as xDSL, DOCSIS cable networks, Ethernet or optical networks. Some UEs may be capable of multimode operation where they can operate on more than one access network technology either on a single access network technology at a time or in some devices using multiple access network technologies simultaneously.
In wireless telecommunications systems, transmission equipment in a base station (BS) transmits signals throughout a geographical region known as a cell. As technology has evolved, more advanced equipment has been introduced that can provide services that were not possible previously. This advanced equipment might include, for example, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) node B (eNB) rather than a base station or other systems and devices that are more highly evolved than the equivalent equipment in a traditional wireless telecommunications system. Such advanced or next generation equipment may be referred to herein as long-term evolution (LTE) equipment, and a packet-based network that uses such equipment can be referred to as an evolved packet system (EPS). As used herein, the term “access device” may refer to any component, such as a traditional base station, eNB, or other LTE access device, that can provide a UE with access to other components in a telecommunications system.
In some deployment scenario, a UE is connected to a core network via plurality of Relay Nodes and eNodeB. The UE making a request to the MME, lets say MME_UE, for setting up an EPS Bearer in order to start the communication. The EPS Bearer request arrives at the MME; this MME could be of the UE or of one of the Relay Nodes.
In order for the UE to get an EPS bearer, all Relay nodes must have their own EPS bearers that have sufficient resources to admit EPS bearer connection of the UE, if RN has sufficient resources then MME_RN will not provision additional resources and if RN does not have sufficient resources then MME_RN will provision additional resources by responding to the request either directly to RN or to MME_UE.
The MME who received the EPS bearer request corresponding to the UE will have to optimally send EPS bearer request to MME of the Relay Nodes on behalf of the Relay Nodes also.
Thus, whenever a UE bearer is created or modified, the RN bearer modify or create procedures may be initiated by the RN. This increases the exchange of messages separately for the UE and for the RN to modify/create a new bearer. Thus additional messages may be exchanged by the RN each time a bearer is created/modified for the UE, leading to delayed access service as well as wasted or underutilized backhaul bandwidth.
Thus there is a need for an efficient method and system of transmitting a bearer resource request message from a UE over a plurality of relay nodes of a mobility management entity for setting up an EPS bearer in an LTE Network.